Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee

Goodreads In the Labyrinth, we had a saying: keep silent, keep still, keep safe. In a city of walls and secrets, where only one man is supposed to possess magic, seventeen-year-old Kai struggles to keep hidden her own secret—she can manipulate the threads of time. When Kai was eight, she was found by Reev on the riverbank, and her “brother” has taken care of her ever since. Kai doesn’t know where her ability comes from—or where she came from. All that matters is that she and Reev stay together, and maybe one day move out of the freight container they call home, away from the metal walls of the Labyrinth. Kai’s only friend is Avan, the shopkeeper’s son with the scandalous reputation that both frightens and intrigues her. Then Reev disappears. When keeping silent and safe means losing him forever, Kai vows to do whatever it takes to find him. She will leave the only home she’s ever known and risk getting caught up in a revolution centuries in the making. But to save Reev, Kai must unravel the threads of her past and face shocking truths about her brother, her friendship with Avan, and her unique power. About this author Lori is an avid writer, reader, artist, and lover of unicorns. She should probably spend less time on the internet (but she won't). She has a borderline obsessive fascination with unicorns, is fond of talking in capslock, and loves to write about magic, manipulation, and family. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, kids, and a friendly pitbull.

Review:

I've always been a huge fan of action books, and Gates of Thread and Stone's synopsis sounded like it was going to have a lot of kickass action. Actually, the part of the summary stating "In the Labyrinth, we had a saying: keep silent, keep still, keep safe." made me have high expectations for the action. It's similar to the summary of The Walled City by Ryan Graudin-"There are three rules in the Walled City: Run fast. Trust no one. Always carry your knife."; (which had GREAT action scenes) so I was extremely excited to see awesome action scenes. However, the action in the book didn't really live up to my expectations. They were well written, but they left me feeling kinda "meh", instead of "OMG ASDFHJKL WHAT IS THIS I'M SO EXCITED AND SCARED". So because of that, I had to dock off a star for my rating. 

But besides that qualm, everything else was very well-written. The book flowed smoothly, the characters were independent and strong, and the world-building was phenomenal. Most of all, Kai was not a pathetic, dependent-on-men kind of heroine. The romance between Avan and Kai was pretty slow (in the way that they took a LONG time to admit their feelings for one another) and it was written painfully and beautifully because the whole time I just wanted to scream and bash their heads together so they would kiss. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I think other people will as well. On a side note, I was really surprised by the ending and frustrated by the cliffhanger- and now I'll have to wait a long time for the sequel.



Disclaimer: Thanks to Goodreads and Amazon for the book cover, about the book, and author information.

Jack and his friends are in a race against time to save the remaining inhabitants of a postapocalyptic London from a nuclear bomb. Two years after London is struck by a devastating terrorist attack, it is cut off from the rest of the world, protected by a large force of soldiers (known as Choppers) while the rest of Britain believe that their ex-capital is a toxic, uninhabited wasteland. But that's not true. Jack and his friends know that the truth is very different--and incredible: the few remaining survivors in London are changing; developing strange, fantastic powers; evolving. And the Chopper force guarding London is treating the ruined city as its own experimental ground. Now, Jack's powers are growing. His friend Lucy-Anne's powers are developing too, and Nomad--that mysterious woman who started it all--is close by. But the Choppers have initiated their final safeguard--a huge nuclear bomb that will wipe out London, and everyone still within its boundaries. Jack and his friends must spread the news of the bomb and save everyone they can. Before that can happen, Jack must face his father, the deadly Reaper, in their final showdown.

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I was born in London in 1969, lived in Devon until I was eight, and the next twenty years were spent in Newport. My wife Tracey and I then did a Good Thing and moved back to the country, and we now live in the little village of Goytre in Monmouthshire with our kids Ellie and Daniel. It’s a lovely place – pub, shop, chip shop, school – and we’re very happy here. Two minutes’ walk in any direction and we’re in the countryside, and the area has featured, intentionally or not, in much of my writing.

I’ve been writing ever since I can remember. The first story I recall actually finishing was when I was nine years old. It involved a train hijacking (yeah, a train has about ten thousand doors and is probably the hardest moving vehicle to hijack … but I was nine years old!), and one of the hijackers being clumsy enough to drop his gun. Naturally my hero found the gun and went on a killing spree. Die Hard on the 10:17 from Paddington.

In my teens I began about nine million novels, and finished none of them. They varied from World War Two action adventures to ’70s style disaster novels. Some had spooky elements, some did not, and it wasn’t until I was twenty that I wrote my first horror story, “Black Heart”. I still have it somewhere … and I suspect it will remain hidden away forever!

My first published story was in the UK indie magazine Psychotrope in 1994, and in 1997 Tanjen published my first novel Mesmer. Since then I’ve had over almost thirty books published in the UK and US by Bantam Spectra, Allison & Busby, Night Shade Books, Simon & Schuster, Leisure Books, PS Publishing, Necessary Evil Press, Cemetery Dance and many others, with many more due soon. Check out the Library section for details.

Quite a few of my novellas and novels have been optioned for the screen, including White (written by Stephen Susco), Exorcising Angels, Until She Sleeps, Face, In Perpetuiry, and The Nature of Balance. They’re all ‘in development’ right now, which means anything from ‘We’re trying to find a writer’ to ‘We have major studio interest and it’s only a matter of time’. There are several others projects about to enter such a stage of development. One day …

Late in 2006 I took the plunge into full-time writing and it’s going well. There’s plenty of exciting news on the horizon – new book deals, film options and other stuff – and you’ll find details posted at this site as and when they happen.
"*I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own."

I don't know if this affected my viewing of the novel or not- but I haven't read the first two books in the series. 

I had a couple of problems with this book. First, I felt like the plot was kind of pointless. Second, the character relationships seemed a bit superficial to me. Again, I don't know if that's a result of my not reading the first two books, but whatever. Third, I felt that Jack was a bit too overpowered and was focused on too much. It would have been better if other characters such as Sparky and Jenna were elaborated on. 

The romance was also a bit rushed. I have no idea whether or not Jack met Rhali before this, but their romance was just meh. He saves her, then like twenty minutes later he's thinking about how her hand feels in his. Apparently feelings of strong protection instantly change into love. Ok. Sure. Honestly, even though there was a lot going on, they should of at least had some time to themselves to get to know each other better. I know that romance wasn't really a main focus of the book, so I kind of wanted it to be... swoonier? I dunno...

The whole "OMG bomb but only Jack and Nomad can stop it" thing was annoying. Other characters need strong powers too! 

Despite its overall boringness, the action scenes were nicely written. The internal struggle withing Jack was well-written too. 

So overall, almost DNFed this, but kept on reading. 

Disclaimer: Thanks to Goodreads and Amazon for the book cover, about the book, and author information.


Two Chocolates...

From debut author Lindsay Smith comes an espionage thriller with a dash of both history and dystopia.

Yulia’s father always taught her that an empty mind is a safe mind. She has to hide her thoughts and control her emotions to survive in Communist Russia, especially because she seems to be able to read the minds of the people she touches. When she’s captured by the KGB and forced to work as a psychic spy with a mission to undermine the U.S. space program, she’s thrust into a world of suspicion, deceit, and horrifying power where she can trust no one. 

She certainly can’t trust Rostov, the cruel KGB operative running the psychic program. Or handsome Sergei who encourages her to cooperate with the KGB. Or brooding Valentin who tells her to rebel against them. And not the CIA, who have a psychic so powerful he can erase a person’s mind with his own thoughts. Yulia quickly learns she must rely on her own wits and power to survive in this world where no SEKRET can stay hidden for long.

My Review:

Disclaimer: Thanks to Goodreads and Amazon for the book cover, about the book, and author information.